Sykes Gets Winning Goal as Kings Get Second Straight Road Victory

Left wing Phil Sykes is perhaps the Kings’ most underrated player.

Sykes is one of the hardest workers on the team, but he doesn’t score many goals.

However, Sykes scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal as the Kings beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2, Sunday night before 13,590 fans at Memorial Auditorium.

The Kings (12-22-4) have now won the first two games of a five-game trip and have taken four of their last five to move to within two points of Winnipeg and Vancover, who are tied for third place in the Smythe Division.

“We’re starting to realize that we can play good hockey and can beat good teams,” said defenseman Craig Redmond, who scored the Kings’ first goal. “The turning point was the Soviet game. We were overmatched against them skill wise but we stayed with them on emotion.”

Trailing, 1-0, after a first-period goal by Buffalo left wing Lindy Ruff, the Kings scored three consecutive goals in the second period before the Sabres got a goal in the closing seconds of the period.

Redmond scored a power-play goal at 4:20 of the second period and defenseman Dean Kennedy got his first goal of the season at 6:27 of the second period to put the Kings ahead 2-1.

Sykes gave the Kings a 3-1 lead at 9:17 of the second period when took a pass from right wing Dave Taylor and put a move on Sabres defenseman Phil Housley at the blue line. Sykes faked Housley to the right and went left. He skated in alone on goalie Jacques Cloutier and lifted a shot over Cloutier’s glove and into the net for his ninth goal of the season.

“I just caught him (Housley) flat-footed and I was able to go around him,” Sykes said. “Cloutier didn’t give me much to shoot at but I flicked it over his glove.”

Said King Coach Pat Quinn of Sykes’ goal: “It was a classy play. It was a great individual effort by Phil. He’s probably our most consistent yet underrated player on the team.”

The Sabres scored with 12-seconds left in the second period when right wing Mike Foligno put in a shot off the glove of King goalie Bob Janecyk.

However, Janecyk made a couple of good saves in the third period and the Kings hung on to win. Janecyk faced 24 shots, making 22 saves, including eight in the final period.

“We’re not a 19th place team,” Janecyk said. “We had a tough start, but we’re moving up the ladder and we’re going to make the playoffs. I think it started to turn around when we played the Russians. We’ve been playing with a lot of intensity since then.”

Said King captain Taylor, who had two assists: “We’ve just been playing good fundamental hockey. Maybe it started with the Russians or maybe it started with the two games we won against Winnipeg. Hopefully, we’re going in the right direction.”

Kennedy, who scored the go-ahead goal on a shot from the blue line, said the Kings are playing with more confidence.

“At the start of the season everyone was doubting everyone else,” Kennedy said. “But over the last few games we’ve started to believe in each other. You can’t play this game if you don’t have confidence and play as a team. At times we were playing as individuals, but lately we’re doing the little things that it takes to win games.”

The Sabres, who had a five-game unbeaten snapped when they lost to Boston, 4-0, on Saturday night, have now lost two straight. They are 18-18-4 at the 40-game mark of the season, compared to a record of 18-12-10 at the same point last season.

“We’ve been very inconsistent during the first half of the season,” said Jim Schoenfeld, the first-year Sabre coach. “We’ve played extremely well, but other nights any team that comes in can beat us.

“We played poorly and the Kings played poorly and won. You’re not going to take a film of this game to a hockey school. It was basically a dull game. The team that could keep awake won.”

The Sabres’ Ruff, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with a twisted knee, scored his 15th goal of the season with 1:19 left in the first period off a pass from center John Tucker in the slot. Tucker also set up Foligno’s goal.

But the Sabres lost the lead by giving up three straight goals.

“We had a lapse in the second period when we lost our concentration,” said Foligno. “We took a couple of dumb penalties and we were behind the eight ball.”

King Notes King left wing Dave (Tiger) Williams sat out the game with a bruised shoulder suffered in the first period of the Kings’ 6-4 win over Toronto Saturday night. Williams said that he’ll probably be able to play in Wednesday night’s game in Pittsburgh. . . . The Kings will practice in Buffalo today before flying to Pittsburgh Tuesday. A blizzard hit Buffalo after the game, with high winds and blowing snow.